Ranking Store-Bought Caesar Dressing From Worst To Best

Sometimes you lack both time and inclination to whip up a restaurant-quality Caesar salad — and you wish you had a bottled Caesar dressing that tastes as good as homemade. 

But where do you start? Caesar with avocado oil? With asiago cheese? Light or creamy Caesar? Two friends and I spent a weekend testing some of the bestselling brands and came up with some great selections — and a few surprises. We tested for flavor — did this really taste like a great Caesar? We tasted for texture — how did it pour out of the container? 

So many of these dressings were actually pretty good, so good that a few of them could probably fool people into thinking that you made them yourself. Be sure to choose the right lettuce for your Caesar, though, and don't forget the croutons. Here's what I found, starting with the unfortunate last choice and ending with my group's favorites. 

This dressing really tries. It's proud of all its "no" ingredients — no artificial flavors, no artificial preservatives, no high fructose corn syrup. Add to that: no flavor. Canola oil is listed as the first ingredient, and that's what my first taste reflected. Oil. Bland oil. Oil that sits proudly above the cloudy seasonings in the bottle, announcing its presence. Oil that runs into your lettuce and sits in a puddle at the bottom of your salad bowl. 

This Simply Vinaigrette is heavy on the vinaigrette and light on the Caesar. Although the label claims the dressing contains parmesan cheese and anchovies, my friends and I couldn't tell that by tasting it. Beyond the oil, it has one note, and that one note is salty. One taster was convinced that I'd substituted another type of dressing by mistake. That's how difficult recognizing it as a wanna be Caesar is. 

Honestly, this Ken's variety doesn't offer much as a vinaigrette either. It's a shame because Ken's makes some excellent Caesar dressings. This isn't one of them. Pass on Simply Vinaigrette. It's simply awful. If you want to make your own simple dressing, grab some olive oil, rice wine vinegar, lemon, honey, and herbs — and save yourself a trip to the market. 

Marie's Creamy Caesar dressing is pretty enough in its slender plastic bottle, but the pretty ends the moment you taste this lackluster dressing. There's no way this comes anywhere close to homemade, and it's almost as flavorless as those packs of dressing that come inside packaged salads at the market. One taster pronounced it bland, and that's the last thing you want with a Caesar dressing. One called it "boring," and that's just as bad. 

The container boasts that it's gluten-free, but I'm not sure why that designation would rob so much flavor from it. I was so curious that I checked the ingredient list to see what the folks at Marie's thought belonged in a Caesar dressing. Turns out that egg yolks are listed after water and soybean oil, and sour cream and cultured nonfat milk come next. Spices are listed close to the bottom. No surprise.

If you were to taste this while blindfolded, you might guess that it's a salad dressing — maybe — but you would not guess that it's a Caesar dressing. Because it isn't, not really. All I can figure is that Marie's takes the "creamy" in it's Creamy Caesar Dressing to heart — and has forgotten or ignored everything else. Yet a great dressing is so much more than its texture. It's layered with nuances of garlic, lemon, anchovy, and wonderful cheeses. Marie's offers none of that. Steer clear of it; there are much better options. 

"This dressing is the bomb," one of our tasters said. "I'd eat it on anything." Anything but a Caesar salad, that is. The dressing is a little salty-sweet, like — well — miso. That makes sense because miso powder is one of the ingredients. Red miso does add that important Caesar umami vibe to the dressing, but that's not enough if it's all you've got when you're in the mood for a Caesar salad. You want lemon. You want cheese. You want garlic. You're not going to find that combination in this dressing. You're not going to find that creamy Caesar texture either. This one is on the runny side. 

Yet this Miso Caesar is a good dressing. There's a sincerity to it, as if it were thoughtfully prepared in someone's kitchen and proudly served to close friends. Even the softly toned packaging made me feel I should be meditating or doing yoga maybe. The label boasts "Living Apple Cider Vinegar," and it points out that the dressing is vegan and gluten-free. I felt good about it and about myself even before the first bite. After that, I wondered what I'd just bitten into. 

Acid League Miso Caesar Dressing is not bad. It's just not Caesar. If you follow a vegan diet, and your only choice for a dairy-free Caesar is this dressing, go for it. You won't hate it, but it will not be like any Caesar you remember.

Some bottled Caesar salad dressings fail because they're too watery and thin. Some — like Kraft Classic Caesar Dressing — go to the opposite extreme and focus on texture instead of taste. That's almost a sure fail, and it's what's going on here. Kraft, I appreciate your bragging on your label about no artificial flavors or colors, but you could have fooled me. Everything about this "classic" dressing looks and tastes artificial. In the bottle, it's a study in white with little specks of pepper so black they don't look real. I can't tell the difference between the dressing and the illustration of it on the label. On the tongue, it's boring, with just a touch of heat — no nuanced layers. 

I  had to let it come to room temperature before I could pour it; the dressing is that thick. In fact, it's so thick you could probably use it as a mayo-based sandwich spread. The sandwich wouldn't mind; there is no recognizable Caesar flavor. Numerous ways to make store-bought Caesar dressing taste homemade include adding a squirt of Worcestershire sauce, a squeeze of lemon juice, or some grated cheese. If you're stuck with this dressing, those are excellent tactics. If not, buy a dressing you don't have to enhance. Some of the Caesar dressings my group tested would be fine on other non-Caesar salads. That's not the case with Kraft Classic Caesar Dressing. Think twice before you give it space in your refrigerator.

What does a pizza kitchen know about how to make Caesar dressing? If California Pizza Kitchen Caesar Dressing is the best you can expect, not much. It's pricier than some of the other dressings my group tried, and I expected the higher price to be reflected in the taste; it wasn't. The first thing that warned me this may not be a perfect experience was the texture of the dressing. One taster literally held the bottle upside down and waited ... and waited. Nothing happened. This isn't catsup, folks; you don't want to wait for it to make its way to your plate. You'll need to shake that container and/or dig out that dressing with a knife. 

Then, there's the taste. Once you get past the too-thick texture, you might possibly guess you're eating Caesar dressing. Or you might not. One of our tasters referred to it as "the mystery dressing."  It's reminiscent of a dressing you've had once, yet it's not quite what you remember. And it does taste as if it came from a bottle, not your mixing bowl. 

Perhaps because it is connected with a pizza kitchen, this dressing is heavy on the cheese taste. Little particles of what appear to be cheese bits are prevalent throughout, which is great if that's what you like in a Caesar dressing. One of our more generous tasters labeled this dressing as "pleasant." That's not enough to make anyone want to invest in it.

Unlike many of the dressings my group tested that were Caesar in name only, I could tell what this one was from the first bite. I have no idea how close it comes to the dressing served at the Olive Garden, but it's good enough to be served there or at your table. This dressing is balanced. It's nuanced. The texture is pleasing instead of chemically "creamy." One taster believed it was too heavy on the vinegar side, but the rest of us disagreed and felt that relatively sharp bite just added to the layered flavors. This is not a scream-in-your-face "I'm a Caesar" dressing. It's a blend of all the things I think of when I think about Caesar dressing: subtle spices, appetizing texture, savory garlic and lemon, umami, and cheese. It's not loaded with salt, and each bite made me want to take the next one. 

During our session of testing 11 different dressings that ranged from wouldn't-serve-it-to-my-worst enemy to excellent, our tasters soon learned to be wary of dressings named after restaurants. Olive Garden Italian Kitchen Classic Caesar Dressing changed our minds. I would buy it again. 

The first bite of this dressing registers as creamy, the second as garlicy, and the third as sweet. Like other dressings my group rated highly (and unlike many that didn't make the grade), this one actually tastes like a Caesar dressing. That's remarkable because it's the only dairy-free dressing I tested that does. Although not particularly appealing in appearance, it does lack that fake stark white color so many bottled dressings have and looks as if a human might have actually prepared it. 

This dressing has no oily feel, no nasty aftertaste, and — very important — it didn't give us salt-mouth. It did weigh down the salad greens, and that is one negative factor. The dressing is thick — really thick. Apparently, the company reformulated both it and its Green Goddess dressing. One Reddit reviewer wrote, "Welp now it's too thick to get out of the bottle," and I agree. Another said, "It's so thick I need a knife to spread it onto a salad now. Not appealing. They really messed it up." 

I don't know what the formulation was like before, but other than having to use a knife or spoon to get it out of the bottle, my friends and I agreed that Primal Kitchen makes one of the best and most authentic Caesar dressings.

This dressing boasts 50% less fat and 48% fewer calories than regular dressing, but don't assume its low-fat rating means it delivers less flavor than the others. If I hadn't read the label, I wouldn't know the difference, and my group and I were impressed by everything about this product. It's an excellent substitute for make-it-yourself Caesar dressing. Sure, it's a little thinner than its full-fat counterpart from the same company, and the taste and texture of black pepper is more prevalent, but neither of those detract from the overall quality. It comes down to how you like your Caesar dressing. 

This one coats the lettuce perfectly, as if it's painted on. You don't have to go through a fit of violent shaking to get it out of the bottle, and when you taste it, you know this is a true Caesar dressing, one you might have whipped up yourself. Since you're saving all those calories with the dressing, get fancy and make some croutons — or go ahead and just buy some — and get out your fine china. This is a Caesar salad dressing you can count on to give you the experience you're craving. 

This is one of the best Caesar salad dressings I tested. It has everything you expect in a Caesar salad. The pour was smooth and rich. The dressing didn't run out of the bottle in a stream, and it didn't sit like a blob of gelatin when I turned the bottle upside down. Its creaminess is subtle, not cloying, and its flavor is a perfect balance of cheese, spices, and lemon juice. I could taste the cheese (although recognizing that it's the parmesan the label promises is impossible), and the cheese flavor doesn't dominate. It's just part of a well-balanced whole.

Every product I tested left a slight aftertaste that prompted my friends and me to reach for our water bottles. This dressing was no exception, but the salty taste didn't linger.

Our tasters rated this dressing only slightly better than Ken's Steak House Lite Creamy Caesar, which tells us that Ken's has mastered the art of making an authentic Caesar. I would buy it again — and I will.

The first thing you'll taste when you bite into a lettuce leaf coated in this close-to-perfect dressing is cheese. Not fake cheese either. The label announces "real parmesan," and that first bite didn't give me reason to argue with the claim. The label also promises no preservatives, no high fructose corn syrup, and no artificial flavors or colors. That might explain why the dressing inside this squat 13-ounce container is the same color as the dressing I make at home or the one that tops my favorite restaurant Caesar. Not pasty white flecked with bright black pepper. Not an oily beige vinaigrette. The dressing tastes homemade as well, as if someone put some care into combining the spices and balancing them with the oil content. 

Marzetti Supreme Caesar is no one-trick pony either. The more salad my friends and I consumed (and all of us finished our entire servings), the more we were impressed by the bits of onion, the layered spices, and the overall impression that we were enjoying a Caesar salad, not just testing a bottled dressing.

Some online critics complain that the dressing is too thick. I don't think so — and I and would happily eat it with a spoon. Marzetti Supreme is truly supreme. 

Briannas Home Style Asiago Caesar Dressing is as good as homemade. I agree with the Reddit reviewer who labels it "wonderfully tangy and chock full of Asiago flavor." Briannnas calls this a "home style" Caesar dressing, and if by that, they mean the quality of a Caesar dressing you'd make at home, I agree. The dressing's color is a little darker than most; it looks like an authentic Caesar, not a cartoon illustration. The ingredients include rice vinegar, balsamic vinegar, garlic puree, and Worcestershire sauce, in addition to the usual spices, and all of them add to the nuanced flavor that makes this dressing stand out. The texture is as perfect as homemade without that giveaway mayonnaise consistency. It's naturally creamy without sitting on your lettuce like a blob. Briannas claims that the dressing is made in small batches, and although I have no idea how small those batches are, the quality is so high that I believe the claim.

A first-rate Caesar lives or dies by the cheese in its dressing. The bits of Asiago cheese throughout this one lack the rubbery quality of the so-called cheese in other dressings. They enhance rather than detract from the salad.

Briannas was the fourth dressing my group tested, and all three of us looked at each other after one bite and said, "This is our winner." After another hour of testing, we tried it again and were convinced we had made the right decision. 

 In a 2020 Statista survey Caesar placed under ranch as the second most used flavor of prepared dressings. As a longtime food writer, I welcomed the opportunity to rate a variety of these dressings and invited two journalist friends to help me do so.  I was pleased to find several dressings that lived up to the homemade-taste label, and I soon realized where most bottled dressings go wrong. They are either too thick and clunky or too thin and runny. My group and I were also surprised that so many dressings just try to look like their impression of a Caesar (thick white with flecks of pepper) and forget that they also have to taste like a Caesar. Too many of the ones sampled focused on their appearance and not their flavor.

I purposely left off fancy trimmings from our test salads, using the same amount of lettuce balanced with a proportionate amount of dressing. Tasting from bottle after bottle of dressing gave each of us a bad case of salt-mouth and made us aware of the importance of using plenty of lettuce to balance the saltiness of the dressing, croutons, and cheese.

Please take a chance with some of these dressings. You might be as surprised as I was, and you might also find yourself enjoying many more Caesar salads at home.